Thursday, 29 September 2016

Sunday @ Altrincham Market

You've probably already been to Altrincham Market. Needless to say, I'm a little late to the party. I'd been hearing good things for months but couldn't seem to find the time to fit in a visit, and I'd seen so many Instagram posts about the place I almost felt like I'd been..

So last Sunday after a cheeky river run, we made our way down to enjoy the markets in all their glory - they are so lovely! The whole place has a really village-y feel, and it was buzzing. It made it even better that the sun was shining, so each market stall just looked even more appealing (got to love the sun for that).

I was craving pizza so we ambled over to Honest Crust (I've never had their pizzas before but again had heard good things). I can't remember the name of the pizza I went for but know it had fresh tomato sauce with mozzarella and lots of nduja - my fave, and James ordered the Salami pizza; topped with fresh basil and mozzarella too.

I think this picture sums it up pretty well. How good does it look? It was insane.

Even the crusts on their own were delicious; warm, soft, chewy dough. Honest Crust only uses flour, water and salt in their dough, and sources all ingredients from small scale British suppliers - thumbs up from me.

We were really impressed with the portion sizes - I was expecting an 'artisan' sized portion (i.e. not very big), but the eight slices we got were absolutely ample; I couldn't finish mine (much to James's delight), which is pretty much unheard of for me and pizza.

There was live music right in front of us, which is always a winner in my eyes.

James opted for a pint, whilst I had a lovely, creamy cappuccino from the Chorlton based passion fruit coffee roasters. It was an ideal little pick me up for the afternoon. FYI if you're in Chorlton, they have a really great cafe called Barbecue, you should check it out.

We also took home a chocolate brownie to share from a stall that I unfortunately didn't catch the name of, which is annoying as it was so good. Gooey, sticky and really fudgey, you know the type.

I love the fact it's not just open on weekends. It runs Tuesday through to Sunday (it's closed on Wednesday) and each day has a different focus, with the weekend editions combining as many stalls as possible. Tuesday is grocery day - meat, fish, fruit, veg, local delicacies, cakes, smoothies etc. Thursday is 'thrifts and antiques', and fresh fish. Friday houses the farmer's market, and flea market every third one of the month. Saturday is a mish mash of the best of everything...

On Sundays the market rotates on a weekly basis so each week there's a different focus - the first Sunday of the month is design, then there's food (there's food all month round FYI), then vintage, then crafts. We went on a craft week, and I can't tell you how sad I was that it was the week before payday as I literally wanted *SO MANY* pieces of jewellery and homeware.

As well as being yummy mummy heaven, there were groups of friends catching up over wine and pizza, hangovers being soothed by coffee and couples eating crepes - basically, it's a great place, whatever your age.

I'm already itching to go back, and can't believe it took me so long to go in the first place!